Fishing Industry
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

As the Deputy knows, European beneficial ownership laws apply across economic sectors, including the seafood sector. I understand a package of new EU anti-money laundering rules, including rules in relation to beneficial ownership, was adopted as recently as 2024. The Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, basic regulation does not specify requirements regarding ownership of vessels, other than providing that a Union fishing vessel is one flying the flag of a member state and is registered in the Union. The Irish register of fishing boats is publicly available on my Department's website.
As regards quota allocation, the CFP provides that it is a matter for each member state to decide how its fishing opportunities, which are not subject to a system of transferable fishing concessions, are allocated to the vessels in its fleet. In allocating fishing opportunities, the CFP requires member states to apply transparent and objective criteria, such as contribution to the local economy. A system of transferable fishing concessions allows for a member state's quota to be allocated to individual fishers or groups of fishers, with that quota then being available to them to transfer, lease or sell to other vessel owners. This is commonly known as an individual transferable quota, ITQ, system.
The last reform of the CFP set out the option for member states to introduce ITQ systems for their fleets. The European Commission had proposed that such a system be mandatory for all member states. Ireland was successful in strongly opposing a mandatory ITQ system on the basis it would inevitably lead to a concentration of ownership in a small number of international fishing companies with few or no links to Ireland's fishing communities. From an Irish perspective, we were very clear that we did not want to see what happened in other jurisdictions happening here. There were differing views on this at European level but we were allowed to make a decision on it as a competency of the Irish State.
In Ireland, fish quotas are a public resource owned by the State and made available to fishing vessels based on an overall policy framework that has been developed over the past 30 years. The result of this long-standing policy is that the Irish fishing fleet has retained a strong economic link with our coastal communities and has delivered economic activity, including vital employment, in those communities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19